Wasi'chu

Sioux people's and allies' protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline in 2016-17 were often framed as a fight against wasi'chu interests. In modern usage, the word implies colonialist greed and corporate power.[1]

Wasi'chu is a loanword from the Sioux language (wašíču or waṡicu using different Lakota and Dakota language orthographies)[2] which means a non-Indigenous person, particularly a white person, often with a disparaging meaning.[3]

The word has been widely adopted in English since the 1970s[4] based on the belief that it literally means "fat taker" or greedy person and therefore carries an implied critique of white people and colonialism. Academic linguistic studies of the etymology of wašíču propose other origins for the word.

That the word's underlying meaning is "fat-taker" or "greedy" is today affirmed by many Sioux people themselves, either as the word's origin[5] or as a modern evolution of the meaning.[6] For example, academic and campaigner Nick Estes writes "the highest insult in Lakota is to be greedy, to be wasicu".[7]

  1. ^ see for instance Giago Davies, James. "James Giago Davies: The real power to defeat the Wasicu pipeline". Indianz.com.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference spellings was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Buechel; Manhart (2002). Lakota dictionary : Lakota-English/English-Lakota New Comprehensive Edition.
  4. ^ "Google Ngram: Wasi'chu". Google Books Ngram Viewer.
  5. ^ Hopkins, Ruth H. (30 January 2021). "Indigenous people are paying the price for vaccine thieves". Al Jazeera. A direct translation of the word [wašíču] means, "fat taker". My ancestors used it to describe the greedy, covetous, selfish behaviour they witnessed in European settlers who invaded our homelands. To them, fat was the most nutrient-rich, energy-dense part of the buffalo...
  6. ^ Nick Estes [@nickwestes] (December 31, 2020). "The Lakota word wašíču evolved over the years. It wasn't initially derogatory, describing "fat-taking" behavior. Today, it means hoarding social wealth and stealing land, describing capitalists and settlers. Example phrase: "Mitch McConnell is a piece of shit wasicu."" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  7. ^ Estes is Assistant Professor in American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota "Lakota Giving and Justice". owašíču owe waste sni. November 26, 2015. Retrieved September 19, 2023.